/3(^Y 


1i[(tman’s  ^narb  of  Htsstons. 


Twenty-Five  Years 
in  the  Foreign  Field. 

By  Mrs.  J.  O.  Means. 


^O0ton : 

Frank  Wood,  Printer,  353  Washington  Strkkt. 

*893- 


BRIEF  review  of  the  foreign  work 


of  our  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions 


during  the  twenty-five  years  of  its  exist¬ 
ence,  reminds  us  first  of  all  that  we  are 
the  successors  of  a  goodly  company  of 
faithful  and  believing  women  who 
labored  for  the  same  object  in  years 
long  gone  ;  whose  prayers  we  inherit, 
whose  faith  we  follow,  and  with  whom 
we  now  magnify  the  Lord.  It  was  a 
woman  who  eave  the  first  larg-e  sum 
ever  ofiered  in  our  country  for  carrying 
the  gospel  to  the  regions  beyond  ;  and 
Mary  Norris,  with  her  noble  legacy  of 
$30,000,  was  but  one  of  many  whose 
hearts  God  had  touched  with  compas¬ 
sion  for  the  heathen,  and  with  a  long¬ 
ing  to  obey  our  Lord’s  last  command. 
Those  happy  spirits  who  behold  his  face, 
their  labor  ended  and  their  reward 
begun,  are  still  one  with  us  as  we  praise 
the  eternal  name,  “Faithful  and  True,” 


(3) 


of  him  who  has  brought  us  to  this  good 
hour.  We  ‘know  not  what  company  of 
witnessing  and  ministering  spirits  may 
gather  with  us  to-day  from  the  general 
assembly  before  the  throne  ;  one  thing 
we  know,  they  rejoice  in  our  joy,  and 
they  look  with  us  for  the  glorious,  long- 
promised  day  when  Christ  shall  reign 
on  earth  as  he  reigns  in  heaven.  He 
himself  is  certainly  here,  according  to 
his  Word,  as  we  recount  the  past,  and 
gather  courage  from  success  for  the 
larger  task  of  the  future. 

The  history  of  our  quarter-century  is 
the  only  argument  we  need  offer  for 
woman’s  missionary  work.  Experience 
has  been  ever  more  strongly  confirming 
the  belief  of  our  founders  that,  under 
God,  it  is  woman  who  must  work  out 
the  redemption  of  woman.  As  a  recent 
confirmation  of  'this  view  we  recall  the 
statement  of  an  ardent  young  mission¬ 
ary  who  plunged  alone  into  the  central 
wilds  of  Africa,  in  the  enthusiastic  be¬ 
lief  that  he  could  live  among  the  natives 
unsupported  by  outside  aid,  and  could 

(4) 


win  them  to  the  service  of  the  true  God. 
After  two  or  three  years  of  patient  and 
earnest  labor,  he  wrote  home  that  he 
was  becoming  convinced  the  gospel 
would  never  reach  the  hearts  of  the 
people  until  Christian  women  should 
come  who  could  gain  access  to  the 
native  women. 

Our  opportunities  have  grown  to  be 
practically  measureless.  Thibet  has 
recently  been  the  only  shut-in  nation 
on  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  Thibet  is 
yielding  at  last.  It  is  exhilarating  to 
live  in  this  day  of  wonderful  change 
and  advancement.  ‘‘  Woman’s  sphere  ” 
is  now  wide  as  the  world,  and,  without 
leaving  our  homes,  the  humblest  of  us 
may  lay  our  hands  upon  the  springs  of 
action,  and  wield  “  power  over  the 
nations.”  Our  missionaries,  who  see 
this  as  we  cannot,  call  to  us  with  accord-, 
ant  and  urgent  voices  from  every  land 
for  helpers  at  home  and  abroad.  Ready 
regions  invite  us,  deepest  needs  cry  out 
to  us,  and  willing  hearers  await  us  the 
world  around. 


(5) 


OUR  MISSIONARIES. 

There  have  been  in  all  two  hundred 
and  fifteen  missionaries  supported  by 
this  Board.  Time  and  language  would 
fail  to  describe  their  personal  qualities. 
Their  record  is  on  hiorh.  There  we 
hope  to  meet  and  thank  them,  when 
their  toil,  and  self-denial,  and  the  anguish 
of  their  partings  are  all  over.  On  earth 
they  have  lived  m  blessed  trust,  extract- 
ing  joy  from  sorrow,  and  reaping  a  hun¬ 
dredfold  reward  now  in  this  time,  in 
their  noble  work  itself,  in  its  success, 
and  in  the  conscious  fellowship  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  the  growth  of  every  gift 
and  grace  of  their  own  character.  In 
heaven  they  will  shine  as  the  brightness 
of  the  firmament,  and  as  the  stars  for¬ 
ever  and  ever.  How  glorious  will  be 
their  part  in  the  eternal  rejoicings  of  that 
innumerable  multitude  “  of  all  nations, 
and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,” 
who  shall  stand  before  the  throne. 

No  figures  or  statements  can  fully  set 
forth  our  foreip’u  work.  There  is  an 

O  • 

unwritten  history  of  labors  and  results. 


(6) 


and  of  joys  and  griefs,  laid  up  in  store 
for  the  revelations  of  the  great  day  ;  and 
there  are  streams  of  influence,  novy  mak¬ 
ing  their  almost  unnoticed  way,  which 
are  yet  to  broaden  into  rivers  of  blessing, 
and  flow  on  forever,  to  make  glad  the 
cit}^  of  God.  Moreover,  our  work  is  so 
intertwined  with  the  work  of  our  sister 
Boards  of  the  Interior  and  of  the  Pacific, 
and  with  that  of  the  American  Board, 
that  it  is  in  some  cases  diflicult  to  take 
account  of  what  is  distinctively  ours. 
We  gladly  record  our  indebtedness  to 
the  fathers  and  brethren  of  the  Elder 
Board  for  the  cordial  welcome  which 
encouraged  our  first  eflbrts,  and  for  that 
wisdom  in  council  which  has  ever  been 
our  strong  stall'. 

RATE  OF  PROGRESS. 

In  order  to  mark  the  progress  of  the 
work,  it  may  be  helpful  to  divide  our 
twenty-five  years  into  fifths,  and  notice 
what  growth  is  indicated  by  the  statistics. 
In  1868,  its  first  year,  the  Woman’s 
Board  adopted  seven  young  ladies,  who 


(7) 


entered  missionary  families  in  South 
Africa,  Ceylon,  Turkey  and  China.  It 
also  supported  seven  Bible  women. 
The  gifts  that  year  were  a  little  over 
$5,000.  At  the  end  of  the  first  five 
years,  in  1873,  we  had  entered  Persia 
and  India,  Japan  and  Spain  ;  but  Persia 
was  soon  transferred  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board.  The  number  of  missionaries 
had  increased  fivefold,  to  thirty-six,  and 
the  number  of  Bible  women  and  teachers 
nearly  fourfold,  to  forty.  We  had  thir¬ 
teen  schools.  The  receipts  of  the  treasury 
had  multiplied  nearly  tenfold — to  $48,791 
in  1873.  During  the  next  five  years 
Austria  and  Dakota,  Micronesia  and 
Mexico  had  been  added  to  our  list  of 
countries  ;  and  the  number  of  mission¬ 
aries  had  nearly  doubled,  reaching  sixty- 
seven  in  1878.  The  Bible  women  were 
fifty-eight ;  there  were  eighteen  board¬ 
ing  schools,  forty-nine  village  and  day 
schools,  with  a  number  of  other  schools 
attended  by  both  boys  and  girls,  and  in 
part  supported  by  us.  The  “Home” 
schools  for  higher  education  in  Con- 


(8) 


stantinople,  Kyoto,  Osaka,  Madura  and 
Dakota  were  all  in  operation.  The 
treasury  received  in  1878,  $77,363. 

At  the  close  of  the  third  five  years, 
in  1883,  we  counted  thirty  more  mis¬ 
sionaries,  one  of  them  in  West  Central 
Africa, — ninety-seven  in  all,  with  eighty- 
one  Bible  women.  At  this  time  we  had 
resigned  the  Dakota  Home  to  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Missionary  Association.  There 
were  twenty-five  boarding  schools, 
which  with  the  “Homes”  contained  a 
thousand  girls,  while  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  village  and  day  schools 
brought  up  the  number  under  school 
instruction  to  three  thousand  five  hun¬ 
dred.  During  the  fifteen  years  then 
completed,  the  Board  had  received  and 
disbursed  over  one  million  of  dollars. 

Again,  at  the  end  of  twenty  years,  in 
1888,  the  work  had  taken  on  greatly  in¬ 
creased  proportions.  The  number  of 
missionaries  had  risen  to  one  hundred 
and  two,  and  of  Bible  women  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-two ;  there  were 
twenty-eight  boarding  schools,  contain- 


(9) 


ing  not  far  from  eighteen  hundred  pupils, 
and  the  common  schools  numbered  two 
hundred  and  fifteen.  The  receipts  for 
that  year,  1888,  were  $123,968. 

And  now,  as  we  complete  our  first 
quarter-century,  we  render  all  praise  to 
God  for  a  record  still  more  Inspiring. 
Our  Bible  woman  In  East  Central  Africa 
brings  up  the  number  of  the  regions  in 
which  we  have  our  representatives  to 
twelve.  We  have  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  missionaries,  twenty-nine 
boarding  schools,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  Bible  women  and  native  teachers, 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  village 
and  day  schools. 


REVIEW  OF  OUR  MISSIONS. 

Time  forbids  anything  but  the  most 
rapid  glance  at  each  mission.  Our  dear 
absent  toilers  must  forgive  the  utter  in¬ 
adequacy  of  this  sketch  to  represent  the 
growth  or  the  admirable  character  of 
their  work.  The  Annual  Report  has 
set  fo^’th  its  present  condition. 

(10) 


CEYLON. 


From  a  missionary  point  of  view  the 
story  of  Ceylon  is  ancient  history.  The 
number  of  women  in  her  churches  is 
much  greater  than  in  most  missions. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  there  were  four 
hundred  and  seventy-three  church  mem¬ 
bers  in  Ceylon,  of  whom  more  than 
half  were  women  ;  now  there  are  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-one 
church  members,  of  whom  about  three 
fourths  are  women.  Then  there  were 
five  hundred  and  forty-six  girls  in  the 
schools ;  now  there  are  two  thousand. 
In  all,  more  than  one  thousand  girls  have 
been  graduated  from  the  Oodooville 
school,  and  two  thousand  women  and 
girls  are  now  under  instruction.  There 
has  been  a  gradual  elevation  of  women 
of  all  grades  in  the  respect  of  the  com¬ 
munity  and  in  influence  over  heathen 
relatives.  Full  preparation  for  the 
Lord’s  coming  in  power  seems  to  have 
been  made  in  that  beautiful  island,  and 
devoted  teachers  wait  in  hope  for  the 
day  of  his  appearing. 

(o) 


INDIA. 

India  leads  all  our  educational  work 
in  numbers.  In  the  Marathi  and  Ma¬ 
dura  missions  we  have  seven  boarding 
schools,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one 
other  schools,  and  fiftv-one  Bible  women. 
These  native  women  find  ready  access 
to  an  ever-increasing  multitude,  telling 
the  glad  tidings  each  “in  the  tongue 
wherein  she  was  born,”  and  understand¬ 
ing  and  meeting  the  needs  of  their 
people  as  foreigners  cannot  do. 

Twenty-four  years  ago  no  door  was 
open  in  Madura  to  any  Christian  teacher. 
To  our  beloved  Mrs.  Chandler  was 
given,  in  1868,  the  joy  of  the  first  invi¬ 
tation  to  enter  a  zenana  for  the  purpose 
of  instructing  Hindu  women.  Twenty 
years  later  there  were  fourteen  thousand 
women  under  instruction,  and  seventy- 
two  thousand  had  thus  heard  the  gos¬ 
pel  message  in  this  way.  Of  woman’s 
work,  Mr.  Jones,  of  the  Madura  Mis¬ 
sion,  says  :  “I  consider  it  invaluable  not 
only  in  its  direct  influence  on  the  women, 
but  also  in  its  reflex  influence  on  the 


(12) 


men.  The  more  I  study  the  domestic 
and  social  condition  of  the  people,  the 
more  assured  I  become  that  the  salvation 
of  the  whole  people  depends  much  more 
upon  the  condition  of  the  women  than 
the  men.  The  religious  destiny  of  the 
land  is  preeminently  in  the  hands  of  the 
women.”  And  to  these  women,  only 
those  of  their  own  sex  can  have  access. 

Our  medical  missionary  ladies  have 
yearly  visited  many  hundreds  in  their 
homes,  and  received  many  thousands  in 
their  dispensaries.  In  1890,  Dr.  Pauline 
Root  treated  fifteen  thousand  five  hun¬ 
dred  and  seventy  cases  ;  nearly  ten  thou¬ 
sand  of  them  being  new  ones.  The  sick 
have  been  taught  by  Scripture  texts  on 
the  back  of  prescription  cards,  and  by 
Scripture  readings  to  patients  in  hos¬ 
pitals.  A  bond  of  grateful  confidence 
has  bound  the  sufferer  to  the  physician, 
disarming  prejudice  and  winning  en¬ 
trance  for  the  truth.  There  are  now 
secret  Christians  all  over  the  Marathi 
and  Madura  regions,  and  great  will  be 
the  outburst  of  joyful  confession  when 

(13) 


the  seal  of  fear  is  taken  oft  their  lips. 
Many  will  then  say,  as  one  of  them 
recently  said,  “I  wholly  believe  in  Jesus, 
and  consider  his  Bible  sweeter  than 
honey,  and  I  have  endeavored  to  make 
known  his  truth.” 

There  are  already  many  bright  ex¬ 
amples  of  the  power  of  the  gospel,  and 
many  great  changes  in  the  land.  IrTdia 
widows  who,  twenty-five  years  ago, 
were  in  the  lowest  depths  of  wretched¬ 
ness  and  ignominy,  upon  them,  also, 
has  the  light  shined.  The  law  now 
forbids  the  marriage  of  girls  under 
twelve,  and  thus  diminishes  the  number 
of  child  widows.  Hundreds  of  educated 
Christian  widows  go  freely  as  Bible 
women  from  house  to  house,  welcomed 
among  all  castes.  The  admirable  schools 
in  Bombay  and  Ahmednagar  and 
throughout  the  Marathi  and  Madura 
-missions,  whose  names,  even,  we  cannot 
mention  here,  have  done  much  to  under¬ 
mine  the  vast  fabric  of  Idolatry  and  of 
caste.  The  changes  of  the  last  quarter 
century -have  been  as  rapid  as  could  take 

(*4) 


place  without  political  convulsion,  and 
the  future  is  full  of  hope. 

TURKEY. 

In  this  country,  also,  the  Lord’s  work 
was  well  begun  before  our  Board  was 
born.  We  entered  into  the  labors  of 
others,  and  reaped  in  fields  already  white. 
Nearly  fifty  American  women  now  help 
to  carry  on  this  mission,  which  has  been 
so  signally  blessed.  We  have  three  col¬ 
leges,  nine  boarding  schools,  and  ninety- 
three  day  schools  in  Turkey  ;  and  Sun¬ 
day  schools,  evening  schools,  and  kin¬ 
dergartens  add  their  forces  to  the  goodly 
number,  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  Chris¬ 
tian  Endeavor  and  King’s  Daughters 
Societies  lend  their  aid.  Our  character¬ 
istic  agency,  the  girls’  school,  has  here 
been  carried  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  grade. 

It  is  especially  true  In  non-Christian 
lands  that  work  must  begin  with  the 
children,  since  the  mothers  are  hardened 
in  evil  ways.  Our  chief  object  and 
ultimate  aim  is  to  train  Christian  workers 


who  shall  teach  and  live  the  gospel 
among  their  own  people.  This  is  the 
best  work,  since  foreign  missionaries 
can  never  reach  a  whole  nation  unless 
in  this  way.  Everywhere  our  schools 
have  been  favored  of  God.  In  1880  the 
female  department  of  Euphrates  College 
reported:  “There  is  always  more  or 
less  of  a  steady  religious  work  going  on 
here.  Twenty-five  girls  have  united 
with  the  church  during  the  year.”  Of 
one  hundred  and  two  graduates  up  to 
that  time,  eighty-five  had  become  Chris¬ 
tian  workers.  “The  power  and  influ¬ 
ence  of  these  educated  girls  as  they  go 
out  for  pastors’  or  teachers’  wives,  or  to 
have  schools  of  their  own,  can  hardly  be 
estimated.”  In  1883,  Miss  Pierce  wrote 
from  Aintab  :  “We  have  been  accus¬ 
tomed  to  say  of  our  pupils  and  native 
teachers  that,  considering  their  ante¬ 
cedents  and  disadvantages,  they  do  very 
well.  We  have  forgotten  antecedents  ; 
we  have  overcome  disadvantages ;  we 
claim  a  place  beside  your  best  schools.” 

The  need  of  a  higher  education  to 

(16) 


prepare  capable  pupils  for  positions  of 
influence,  is  better  understood  if  we  re¬ 
flect  that  the  graduates  have  few  outside 
helps  after  leaving  school.  They  must 
be  furnished  with  resources  within  them¬ 
selves  to  resist  the  downward  drag  of 
surrounding  heathenism  or  ignorance. 
A  wider  range  of  knowledge  and  of 
thought,  with  access  to  helpful  books, 
must  brace  their  minds  against  deterio¬ 
rating  tendencies.  They  also  need  some 
attractive  accomplishments  to  secure  in¬ 
fluence  over  others.  This  explains  the 
teaching  of  music,  of  the  English  lan¬ 
guage,  and  of  some  other  things  which 
at  first  sight  may  seem  wide  of  our 
mark, — the  saving  of  souls  from  sin. 
Such  teaching  is  for  those  who  in  after 
life  may  win  the  souls  which  mission¬ 
aries  cannot  reach. 

The  Constantinople  Home  began  to 
furnish  this  more  thorough  education  in 
1871.  In  1872  our  auxiliaries  roused 
themselves  to  specific  efibrt  for  provid¬ 
ing  a  suitable  building,  and  in  1876  it 
was  completed  and  furnished.  In  eight 

(17^ 


years  the  school  had  outgrown  its  rooms, 
so  that  in  iSSo,  was  given  for 

enlargement  by  our  Board,  and  $10,000 
by  the  American  Board,  an  anonymous 
giver  adding  $20,000.  In  1890  the 
school  received  a  college  charter,  under 
the  name  ot  the  “American  College  for 
Girls  at  Constantinople.”  It  is  now  per¬ 
manently  established  upon  the  beautiful 
height  of  Scutari,  through  the  blessing 
of  God  upon  self-denying  gifts  and  be¬ 
lieving  prayers.  With  competent  teach¬ 
ers  and  with  students  from  ten  or  more 
nationalities,  we  look  to  it  for  ever¬ 
growing  usefulness  in  the  conversion  and 
training  of  those  who  shall  be  Christian 
laborers  in  the  lands  of  their  birth. 

At  Marash  College  for  girls,  estab¬ 
lished  ten  years  ago,  all  but  one  of  the 
thirty  graduates  have  become  Christian 
teachers  or  Bible  women.  Every  true 
convert  is  an  assistant  missionary,  but 
this  is  especially  true  of  the  Bible 
women.  A  spirit  of  inquiry  and  a  desire 
for  knowledge  have  been  awakened 
throughout  Turkey,  from  Bulgaria  to 

(18) 


her  eastern  borders,  by  missionary  teach¬ 
ing,  so  that  within  these  twenty-five 
years  a  vast  system  of  common  schools 
has  been  developed  in  the  empire.  The 
whole  skv  has  chano-ed.  The  common 

^  O 

contempt  of  men  for  women  is  abating, 
in  view  of  the  remarkable  unfolding  of 
mental  capacity  in  their  own  daughters. 
Once  girls  must  be  paid  for  attending 
school  ;  now  our  Christian  schools  annu¬ 
ally  receive  thousands  of  dollars  in  tui¬ 
tion  fees. 

We  have  had  no  more  efficient  work¬ 
ers  than  those  who  go  forth  upon  evan¬ 
gelistic  tours.  We  cannot  help  men¬ 
tioning  in  this  connection  those  dear 
travelers.  Miss  Seymour  and  Miss  Bush, 
who  for  almost  twenty  years  have 
traversed  the  soil  of  Eastern  Turkey, 
sowing  beside  all  waters,  through  storm 
and  cold,  through  difficulty  and  danger, 
in  weariness  and  painfulness,  yet  always 
in  the  joy  of  the  Lord. 

AFRICA. 

Our  work  in  Africa  has  gone  on  with¬ 
out  interruption  since  the  beginning  of 


(19) 


our  life.  'The  march  of  ev^ents  has  been 
rapid  in  Natal  during  these  twenty-five 
years.  English  rule  has  founded  the  new 
republic,  and  the  discovery  of  gold  and 
diamonds  has  brought  in  the  railroad, 
which  extends  three  hundred  miles  from 
north  to  soutli  along  the  land,  and  which 
with  four  other  roads  has  opened  a  way 
not  only  for  modern  commerce,  but  for 
the  Word  of  the  Lord.  The  telegraph 
connects  all  central  places,  and  two  sub¬ 
marine  cables  put  Natal  into  quick  com¬ 
munication  with  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Clusters  of  neat,  well-ordered  homes,  in 
which  dwell  Christian  families,  have 
here  and  there  taken  the  place  of  the 
dark  and  filthy  kraal.  A  generation  of 
Christians  has  been  reared,  among  whom 
are  some  who  stand  forth  as  shining  ex¬ 
amples  of  what  Africans  may  be.  That 
sweet  woman  Yona,  who  with  her  brave 
husband  went  as  our  first  foreign  mis¬ 
sionaries  from  Natal  to  the  cruel  Mata- 
beles,  would  have  adorned  any  church 
anywhere  ;  and  her  voice  has  added  new 
joy  to  the  new  song  of  the  Church  tri- 


(30) 


umphant.  After  her  husband’s  death 
she  returned  home  to  be  an  invaluable 
helper,  modest,  intelligent,  and  devoted. 
In  health  her  influence  was  widely  felt ; 
in  sickness  she  seemed  to  see  “the  King 
in  his  beauty.”  “  The  Bridegroom  is 
coming,”  she  said;  “why  don’t'  you 
shout,  why  don’t  you  sing.^  The  bells 
of  heaven  are  ringing  !  Is  that  the  bell 
of  the  Church  on  earth  ?  Oh,  that  is  not 
so  sweet  as  the  bells  of  heaven.”  Zulu 
women  from  our  excellent  schools  are 
now  teaching  in  the  East  Central  African 
mission,  a  thousand  miles  northward. 
Are  they  not  our  messengers,  also  ? 

In  West  Central  Africa  our  one  mis¬ 
sionary  has  been  helping,  with  ladies 
from  our  sister  Boards,  to  lay  the  foun¬ 
dations  of  the  Western  Church.  At  her 
station  twelve  are  now  preparing  for 
baptism,  and  forty  are  enrolled  in  her 
girls’  school.  Twelve  years  ago  not  a 
^leam  of  li^ht  irradiated  the  moral  mid- 

o  o 

night  of  Bih^  and  Bailundu.  Now, 
these  little  communities  of  young  Chris¬ 
tians  are  as  a  light  in  a  dark  place,  and 


(21) 


one  of  them  is  already  constituted  into 
a  Home  Missionary  Society,  to  send  out 
and  support  native  teachers  in  the 
regions  beyond.  Truly  does  an  eminent 
Englishman  say,  that  “the  missionary 
force  has  effected  greater  changes  in  the 
condition  of  savage  Africa,  than  armies 
and  navies,  conferences  and  treaties, 
have  yet  done.” 


CHINA. 

Twenty-ffve  years  ago  there  were  only 
two  girls’  boarding  schools  in  our  North 
China  and  Foochow  missions,  and  their 
pupils  numbered  thirty-ffve.  There 
were  only  seventeen  girls  in  our  six 
North  China  day  schools.  Great  prej¬ 
udice  has  existed  against  these  girls’ 
schools.  No  story  was  too  absurd  to  be 
believed,  and  it  was  said  that  mission¬ 
aries  wished  to  carry  off',  or  destroy,  or 
“convert  into  opium,”  the  girls  under 
their  care.  There  were  then  only  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  members  in  our 
mission  churches  against  the  one  thou¬ 
sand  nine  hundred  and  seven  of  the  year 

(22) 


1892.  Meanwhile  our  own  work  has 
grown  broader  and  deeper,  until  there 
is  imperative  need  of  more  workers. 
China’s  millions  of  toiling  women  call 
to  us  no  less  by  their  degrading  apathy 
than  by  their  wrongs  and  opj^ressions, 
for  the  light,  the  love,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  gospel.  Education  must  go  hand 
in  hand  with  the  gospel  as  the  only  way 
of  deliverance  from  the  bonds  of  super¬ 
stition.  Changes  have  been  slow,  but 
the  missionary  crusade — in  the  matter, 
for  instance,  of  footbinding — has  met 
with  as  mu'ch  success  as  could  be  ex¬ 
pected, -considering  that  for  ages  the  two 
or  three  inch  foot  has  been  the  sign  not 
only  of  rank,  but  of  good  character. 
Many  a  crippled,  foot  unbound  has  be¬ 
come  strong  and  useful,  though  it  must 
always  remain  deformed  ;  and  Christian 
families  are  generally  glad  to  conform 
to  Christian  usage.  Clean  clothes  once 
a  week  is  a  Christian  custom  ;  a  prepara¬ 
tion  for  Sabbath  worship.  This  new 
idea  has  entered  China,  where,  as  in  all 
non-Christian  nations,  the  disregard  for 

C23) 


cleanliness  has  been  universal.  “  Re¬ 
form  has  begun,”  says  a  missionary, 
“for  clean  clothes  once  a  week  means, 
in  the  course  of  time,  cleaner  houses, 
cleaner  streets,  and  better  health.  Chris¬ 
tian  communities  have  initiated  a  nation¬ 
al  movement  in  the  direction  of  neat¬ 
ness.”  Now  the  country  is  open  and  at 
peace,  and  offers  the  most  vast  and 
grand  of  mission  fields  for  women.  Its 
dense  population  enables  one  missionary 
to  reach  a  multitude.  Noble  women 
have  labored  there  for  fifty  years,  but 
since  our  Board  was  established,  single 
ladies  have  greatly  augmented  the  work¬ 
ing  force.  Their  excellent  medical, 
evangelistic,  and  educational  work  has 
wonderfully  aided  everywhere,  but  their 
number  should  be  multiplied  many  fold. 
We  have  now  three  boarding  schools 
and  day  schools,  but  only  five  mission¬ 
aries  and  a  few  Bible  women  in  that 
great  land. 

JAPAN. 

When  we  began,  in  1868,  Japan  was 
a  hermit  nation.  A  band  of  praying 


(^4) 


women  in  Brookline,  Mass.,  had  long 
been  besieging  her  doors  by  the  way  of 
prayer,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time  the 
Lord  answered  them  by  the  way  of  our 
Government  and  navy.  “  Over  and 
over  again,  doubtless,”  says  that  sound 
and  cautious  thinker.  Professor  Austin 
Phelps,  “  prayer  has  really  achieved  the 
things  which  men  have  ascribed  to  war, 
to  science,  to  civilization,  to  literature, 
to  the  march  of  intellect.  The  longer  I 
live,  the  more  profoundly  am  I  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that  the  mightiest 
power  ever  put  forth  in  the  world  is  this 
mysterious  influence  with  God  which  is 
at  the  command  of  the  poorest  and 
feeblest  of  us.”  The  country  has  been 
only  a  few  years  open  to  foreigners,  but 
it  now  allows  our  missionaries  a  freedom 
of  labor  almost  as  great  as  heart  could 
wish.  Those  praying  women  had  been 
working  beforehand,  earning  money  for 
the  Christianization  of  Japan,  and  with 
others  they  have  entered  in  and  reaped 
the  wonderful  first  fruit  of  the  harvest. 

Twenty  years  ago  when  Miss  Talcott 


(25) 


went  to  Kobe,  the  American  Board  had 
been  there  but  four  years.  We  have 
now  the  honor  of  working'  through 
twenty-four  teachers  and  missionary 
wives,  and  through  many  women  evan¬ 
gelists,  graduates  of  the  Kobe  Training 
School,  for  the  moulding  of  the  New 
Japan.  To  have  a  part  in  these  marvel¬ 
ous  changes,  to  be  making  history  at  a 
rate  so  rapid,  to  help  save  such  a  jewel 
as  Japan  for  the  crown  of  our  King,  is 
enough  to  satisfy  the  ambition  of  any 
woman,  there  or  here.  The  stir  of  new 
life  in  that  “Sunrise  Kingdom”  has 
been  almost  as  great  among  the  women 
as  among  the  men.  Little  attention  had 
been  paid  to  the  education  of  girls. 
They  have  received  with  joy  the  gospel 
message  and  the  hope  of  heaven,  for 
“  they  had  expected  nothing  better  after 
death  than  to  enter  into  a  crow.”  The 
knowledge  of  what  Christian  familv  life 
may  be  has  affected  the  public  opinion 
of  the  country. 

The  miseries  of  the  frequent  divorce 
or  abandonment  of  wives  are  more 


(26) 


clearly  seen,  and  a  check  at  least  has 
been  put  upon  the  awful  practice  of 
Japanese  parents  who  sold  the  honor  of 
their  young  daughters  as  the  method  of 
gaining  their  own  living.  The  country 
which  Neesima  left,  at  a  call  as  clear  as 
that  of  Abraham,  and  with  the  distinct 
purpose  of  seeking  moral  enlightenment 
for  his  people,  the  country  where  Chris¬ 
tianity  was  a  crime,  has  now  over  thirty- 
three  thousand  Christians,  an  earnest 
and  well  educated  native  ministry, 
Christian  schools  of  high  character,  and 
a  considerable  Christian  literature. 

SPAIN. 

In  1868  our  Spanish  mission  was  not 
in  existence.  Our  boarding  school, 
which  began  twenty  years  ago  at  Barce¬ 
lona,-  has  had  a  happy  and  useful  life. 
Many  of  its  pupils  have  become  Chris¬ 
tians,  and  all  have  amply  repaid  their 
teachers’  care.  In  its  present  fine  loca¬ 
tion  at  San  Sebastian,  government  exam¬ 
inations  have  proved  the  high  character 
of  the  teaching,  have  awakened  the  ad- 


(27) 


miration  and  secured  the  interest  of  the 
people,  and  have  proved  a  great  intel¬ 
lectual  stimulus  to  the  pupils. 

AUSTRIA. 

Here  our  six  Bible  women  have  won 
such  advantage  upon  the  hard-fought 
field  as  inspires  hope  for  the  time  to 
come.  Our  two  boarding  schools  at 
Krabschitz  and  at  Briinn  have  been  ably 
managed  and  greatly  blessed.  Shall  not 
our  faith  rise  to  the  occasion  until  larger 
liberty  is  allowed  and  the  Word  of  life 
has  free  course  ? 

MICRONESIA. 

We  have  had  many  rejoicings  in  days 
past  over  the  great  things  done  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  sea.  Recent  re¬ 
verses  and  losses  have  wrung  the  hearts 
of  our  banished  ones,  some  of  whom  are 
still  kept  out  of  their  chosen  work  and 
away  from  the  converts  who  need  them. 
But  many  thousand  of  islanders  have 
known  and  believed  the  truth  of  God, 
and  surely  this  knowledge  can  never  die 

raS) 


out.  His  word  shall  not  return  unto  him 
void.  Our  share  in  this  mission  is  the 
work  of  six  ladies,  beginning  in  1878 
with  Mrs.  Pease,  at  Kusaie. 


MEXICO. 

The  work  of  our  Board  in  Southern 
Mexico,  begun  in  1874,  was  dropped  in 
1877,  when  that  mission  was  transferred 
to  the  Presbyterian  Board.  In  1882  we 
took  a  part  in  the  new  mission  to  North¬ 
ern  and  Western  Mexico,  and  our  school 
work  has  gone  on  till  parents  came 
heartily  to  desire  the  education  of  their 
children,  and  in  some  cases  to  “  grudge 
even  a  short  vacation,  as  lost  time,”  and 
till  the  training  of  teachers  for  country 
schools  could  not  keep  pace  with  the 
demand.  Our  four  Mexican  missionaries 
are  thankful  and  hopeful  in  the  midst  of 
their  toil.  Have  they  not  reason,  while 
“every  Christian  woman  in  Chihuahua 
feels  it  her  duty  to  take  part  in  enlighten¬ 
ing  her  sisters”  ?  Could  we  say  as  much 
at  home?  Mexico  has  now  her  confes- 


sors  like  Maria  Gonzales,  cheerfully 
enduring  persecution  for  the  truth’s  sake. 

In  the  comity  of  missions,  “fifty  mil¬ 
lion  of  women  and  girls  are  dependent 
on  our  Congregational  churches  for  the 
bread  of  life.”  A  recent  writer,  while 
making  some  distressing  statements  as 
to  the  small  proportion  of  the  women  of 
our  churches  who  are  engaged  in  any 
missionary  work,  points  out  that  these 
facts  are  in  one  aspect  encouraging.  If 
so  few  have  done  so  much  and  in  so 
short  a  time,  what  may  we  not  expect 
when  all  of  us,  so  highly  favored  among 
wmmen,  shall  hear  and  heed  our  Lord’s 
last  command. 

The  day  is,  indeed,  breaking  over  all 
the  islands  and  continents  of  the  earth. 
A  long  and  toilsome  work  in  the  dark 
has  preceded  the  dim  dawn,  athwart 
which  are  now  shooting  upward  the 
ravs  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  And 
there  are  still  eight’ hundred  and  fifty 
million  of  the  races  of  men  untouched 
by  the  gospel  light !  Almost  two  thirds 
of  the  people  of  the  globe  are  yet  igno- 


rant  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ.  To 
us,  who  are  stewards  of  this  manifold 
grace,  is  given  the  high  and  strenuous 
joy  of  carrying  it  around  the  earth.  The 
wonderful  blessing  which  has  been  re¬ 
counted  upon  our  humble  beginnings, 
should  cheer  us  on  to  ever-enlarging 
effort. 

We  go  not  alone  to  the  warfare  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world. 
Our  almighty  and  all-loving  Father  pre¬ 
pares  the  way  ;  our  Saviour’s  heart  is  set 
upon  our  success,  and  the  blessed  Spirit 
of  Power  is  pledged  to  convince  the 
world  of  sin.  We  go  in  the  strength  of 
the  Lord  God.  Here  at  this  altar  let 
us  give  ourselves  with  new  devotion  to 
the  highest  service  that  God  commands 
or  we  can  render, — the  bringing  in  of 
his  kingdom  of  light  and  love  upon  this 
sin-distracted  earth.  Our  own  time  is 
short.  When  we  reach  the  other  shore 
and  see  our  past  life  in  the  light  of  eter¬ 
nity,  what  rapture  will  it  be  if  we  may 
hear  the  King  say  of  each  of  us,  “  She 
hath  done  what  she  could.” 


(30 


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